Gender Diversity and LGBTQ Inclusion in K-12 Schools

A Guide to Supporting Students, Changing Lives

Sharon Verner Chappell, Karyl E. Ketchum, Lisa Richardson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351697422
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This exploration of effective practices to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and gender-diverse students in elementary, middle, and high school contexts focuses on curriculum, pedagogy, and school environment. Narratives and artwork from the field are framed by sociocultural and critical theory as well as research-based elaboration on the issues discussed. Applications of antidiscrimination law and policy, as well as learning skills like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking help teachers tackle some of the most significant educational challenges of our time. The stories of real-world practices offer encouragement for building inclusive environments and enhancing social-emotional relationships among youth, families, and schools. Gender Diversity and LGBTQ Inclusion in K-12 Schools provides a helpful roadmap for educators hoping to create safe and empowering spaces for LGBTQ and gender-diverse students and families.

1

INTRODUCTION

Building Gender-Diverse and LGBTQ-Inclusive Schools

A preschool teacher tidies up her classroom, placing the toys and dress-up items in their locations and filling the paint canisters. While holding a “princess dress,” she remembers casual talk between a few of her students that day. When one boy tried on the dress, another told him, “You can’t wear that. It’s pink. It’s a dress, and you are a boy.” Then two girls talked about being mommies to the baby dolls, and another girl said, “You can’t be married. Only mommies and daddies get married.” The teacher personally believes that all colors are for everyone, that her students can play many parts in their make-believe play, and that there are many ways to be a family. How can I talk to the kids tomorrow about stereotypes and diversity? How can I encourage them to embrace each other’s curiosities and interests in their play?

A parent stands at the door to the school office and stares through the window at the familiar faces who had greeted him often during his older child’s elementary school years. Now, his younger child is entering third grade, changing schools after years of harassment for being transgender. Summoning the courage, he twists the knob and opens the door, ready to register his son. The parent knows there are many state and federal laws that protect his son’s gender identity and expression, but he has no idea how the administration will react when his son goes in the office and it all becomes real. Will the school be safe, welcoming, and inclusive of us as a family with a child who is transgender?

A middle school girl doodles in her notebook during math, glancing at the empty desk that should be occupied by her best friend but hasn’t been for a week now. He had been in the drama club, and she hoped the club would help him feel better, less picked on. But every day, he would retreat to the school’s theater in tears after being called derogatory names, and now, he’s not coming to school. She texts him and lets her mind wander. The girl heard somewhere that there was something called a Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA). Would starting a GSA at our school help my friend? If so, how do I get started, will other students want to join? Will I receive support from my teachers and my parents?

A high school boy talks with his science fiction literature group about a story to choose for English class. He has been out for some time and supported by most everyone he knows. So, he suggests reading We Are the Ants, talking excitedly about the book’s alien invasion plot and honest character relationships (he has started skimming the book). His group agrees, so they submit the title to their teacher. The teacher does a quick search and notices that the book has lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) content. He imagines his email in-box filling with complaints from parents and asks the group to find some alternative titles, just in case. How can I support my students’ interests and lives in the face of controversy and concern?

In all these examples, teachers, parents, and students grapple with the complexities of navigating LGBTQ identities and inclusions/exclusions at school. How will each one of them pursue the answers to their questions? How will the adults and youth in each situation respond to the actions they take? What resources and networks will help them in the face of challenges and resistance, and strengthen their confidence in becoming advocates and allies for LGBTQ youth at school? This book seeks to respond to such questions, providing a resource for teachers at all levels: elementary, middle, and high school.

Children and youth in US schools regularly experience discrimination directed toward their bodies; languages spoken; gender, racial and ethnic identity; perceived sexual orientation; national identity, immigration and documentation status and family diversity. In particular, bias-based bullying most often impacts LGBTQ youth, which sometimes leads to self-harm and disengagement from school (AERA, 2013). However, establishing safe, welcoming schools for LGBTQ youth and families can prevent this harm.

This book explores effective practices to support gender diversity and LGBTQ advocacy and inclusion in elementary, middle, and high school contexts, with a particular focus on curriculum, pedagogy, school environment, and applications of antidiscrimination law and policy and twenty-first-century learning skills of creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. We include exemplary stories of educational practice that positively impact LGBTQ youth and families at school—approaches that include support from education professionals across community, school district, and teacher education programs. We also address the struggles and barriers experienced by LGBTQ youth and families in an effort to move toward improved conditions at school. As you read this book, we hope you will feel empowered to act in many ways:

• To learn more about LGBTQ youth and families
• To identify state and federal school-based laws and policies that support your allied advocacy work
• To evaluate curriculums and pedagogy in terms of their inclusivity and exclusivity based on gender and sexuality
• To prevent and intervene in bias, stereotyping, and discrimination when you observe it at school
• To proactively advocate for queer, gender-expansive, and transgender youth and families
• To support the pluralism and intersectionality of students’ identities
• To set goals for yourself as an educator and advocate in this important work.

Building gender-diverse and LGBTQ-inclusive school environments enhances social-emotional relationships among children and youth, families, and school staff. Inclusive environments support overall wellness, academic achievement, and growth and development for all children and youth. Yet teachers need opportunities to learn how to proactively build safe, welcoming, and inclusive schools; how to intervene when they witness harassment; and how to include LGBTQ role models and contributions in the regular school curriculum. As you read, we hope that, as educators, advocates, and allies, you will feel empowered to act. We will address how to evaluate curriculum, pedagogy, and school environments, and how to identify personal/professional goals for taking allied actions as educators.

The book begins with an introduction to sociocultural and critical frameworks for understanding gender and sexual diversity, with a particular focus on gender nonconforming, transgender, and LGBTQ children and youth. We deconstruct naturalized binary-based norms and power structures that influence young people’s identity construction and behaviors, reframing gender and sexuality on a pluralistic continuum or spectrum. We address the ways in which children experience bias-based bullying—teasing, harassment, and sometimes violence—about actual or perceived personal characteristics, such as their body shape/size, languages spoken, gender, race/ethnicity, perceived sexual orientation, or family structure (Buckel, 2000; California Safe Schools Coalition, 2016; Griffin & Ouellett, 2003; Prevent School Violence Illinois, 2017).

The book draws particular attention to the impact of bullying and discrimination on LGBTQ youth. For example, transgender youth are disproportionately at risk for harassment and violence. In a national survey of K-12 trans youth respondents, 78 percent experienced harassment, 35 percent experienced physical assault, 12 percent experienced sexual assault, and 15 percent said harassment was so bad it led them to leave school (Grant, Mottet, & Tanis, 2011). Disproportionately, bullying involves homophobic and gender-based teasing and slurs (Espelage, Basile, & Hamburger, 2012; Meyer, 2009; Poteat & Espelage, 2005; Poteat & Rivers, 2010), and occurs more frequently among LGBTQ youth in US schools than among those who identify as heterosexual (Espelage, Aragon, Birkett, & Koenig, 2008; Kosciw, Greytak, & Diaz, 2009). This book provides examples of school and community approaches to applying laws that protect against LGBTQ discrimination and bullying; ensuring the availability of resources for LGBTQ youth at school; and requiring the inclusion of contributions of diverse communities, including LGBTQ individuals, in the K-12 curriculum (A Project by the ACLU of California, My School My Rights Know Your Rights, 2017).

STATISTICS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GAY AND TRANSGENDER STUDENTS

Reliable estimates indicate that between 4% and 10% of the population is gay, which means that in a public school system of more than one million, like New York City’s, there are at least 40,000 to 100,000 gay students.

Schools should be a young person’s primary center for learning, growing, and building a foundation for success in the world. Growing up and getting through high school can be challenging for any student, but lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth too often face additional obstacles of harassment, abuse, and violence. The statistics are astounding:

Academics

§ LGBTQ students at schools with comprehensive policies on bullying and harassment are much more likely to report harassment to school authorities who, in turn, were more likely to respond effectively.

§ LGBTQ students are twice as likely to say that they were not planning on completing high school or going on to college.

Health

§ Gay teens are 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide and 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection.

§ LGBTQ youth who reported higher levels of family rejection during adolescence are three times more likely to use illegal drugs.

Family and Shelter

§ Half of gay males experience a negative parental reaction when they come out, and in 26 percent of these cases, the youth is thrown out of the home.

§ Studies indicate that between 25 percent and 50 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ and on the streets because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

§ LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in foster care, juvenile detention, and among homeless youth.

Harassment and Violence

§ Nearly one-fifth of students are physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation, and over one-tenth are physically assaulted because of their gender expression.

§ About two-thirds of LGBTQ students reported having been sexually harassed (e.g., sexual remarks made, being touched inappropriately) in school in the past year.

§ The average GPA (grade point average) for students who were frequently physically harassed because of their sexual orientation was half a grade lower than that of other students.

*Approximately 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ

(PFLAG New York City, 2016)

This book is separated into sections by grade span across elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools, anchored by personal narrative stories and artwork from the field, and framed by theory and research-based elaboration on the issues discussed in the chapters. Each chapter ends with discussion questions for the reader. Separating the book into sections based on educational setting allows readers to easily identify practices that directly apply to them and read beyond their settings for related strategies to anticipate what works when students come into their grade levels or leave them for future grades. Although we have separated the book into sections, we highly recommend that you read everything! There are many strategies and resources throughout the book that all readers can utilize.

We aim to inspire hope in teachers, other school professionals, community partners, and families; through stories of current safe, welcoming, and inclusive practices, we can envision how to improve our own schools and enhance social-emotional relationships among youth, families, and schools in dynamic ways. Anchoring the book in personal narratives about schools, teaching, and learning provides a basis for teacher development. Stories shape our world, helping us navigate problems, experiences, and ideas in our daily lives (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Goffman, 1974). Constructing stories about life and work experiences helps us examine society and ask questions about why things stay the same and why they change, particularly in the context of school (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Geertz, 1995). Often, stories portrayed in media and schoolbooks remain narrow (representing primarily majoritized populations) and stock (representing stereotypical expectations for the life experiences of particular affinity groups). In this way, the stories of minoritized LGBTQ youth and communities have remained concealed in schools, leaving students without exposure to a rich mosaic of perspectives and experiences of the world (Bell & Roberts, 2010; Cruz, 2002; Takaki, 2011).

The stories in this book excavate concealed experiences of gender-diverse and LGBTQ youth, families, and educators as we learn from counter-narratives that offer alternative viewpoints on the impact of power, injustice, and the othering of LGBTQ people (Anzaldúa, 2012; Bell & Roberts, 2010; Chappell & Chappell, 2015; hooks, 2013; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). Through these counter-narratives, we hope to inspire you—teachers, school professionals, community partners, and families—so we may all become more inclusive in our practices to better support LGBTQ youth and families in our classrooms and schools.

Contexts for School-Based LGBTQ Inclusion and Advocacy

Whether we teach in the classroom or an out-of-school setting, lead a school, counsel young people, or are their parents and guardians, we have a profound influence on their growth and development, particularly their sense of self-worth. How we recognize or ignore, embrace or reject their identities matters. Young people’s ways of seeing themselves and the world are socioculturally constructed through the communities in which they participate.

We focus on their identities as related to their gender and sexuality, particularly those identities that are LGBTQ. In most cultures globally, young people develop in relation to norms about what it means to be male and female, boy and girl, man and woman (Britzman, 1998; Butler, 1993; Carrera, Depalma, & Lameiras, 2012). Communities socialize and naturalize gender norms, often depending on hierarchical binaries that assign power and status to gender-conforming behaviors (Butler, 1993, 2004). These binary-based norms and power structures influence children’s identity construction: how society presents definitions of boy and girl informs how children see themselves (or do not see themselves) as male or female, or otherwise gendered.

In the US culture, schools contribute to the conflation of biological sex, sexual orientation...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by sj Miller
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: Building Gender-Diverse and LGBTQ-Inclusive Schools
• PART I: Elementary School
• PART II: Middle School
• PART III: High School
• PART IV: Higher Education
• Afterword
• Contributor Biographies
• Appendices
• Index